Master of Arts in Peace Education
Research Project
Author: Marcos Roberto Estrada de Oliveira
Education for Sustainable Development within the Formal Curriculum in Costa Rica:
The Example of Earth Charter Materials in Primary Schools
A Contribution to the UN DESD, 2005-2014
July 8, 2008
Advisor: Manuel António Carvalho Gomes, Master.
This Research Project is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts in Peace Education
Permission for Use of the Research Project
Full name of author: Marcos Roberto Estrada de Oliveira
Full title of the Research Project:
Education for Sustainable Development within the Formal Curriculum in Costa Rica
The Example of an Earth Charter Material in Primary Schools
A Contribution to the UN DESD 2005-2014
Degree: Master’s Degree in Peace Education Year of submission: 2007-2008
University Department: Department for Gender and Peace Education
I do agree to this Research Project being consulted, for research or study purposes only, provided that due acknowledgement of its use is made where appropriate.
I do consent to single copies of this Research Project, in part or as whole, being made for research or study purposes at another institution, at the discretion of the University Librarian.
I wish the following limitations to apply, for the period of time specified, to the use of this Research Project:
Signature of author:……………………………………………………………
San José, 08th of July 2008
Acknowledgments
Many people at the UN mandated University for Peace (UPEACE), and outside contributed to this research project. My thanks to my supervisor Manuel Gomes who has been inspiring me to achieve my goals. My partners in this adventure have been, the Earth Charter Team, namely Mirian Vilela, Dominic Stucker, Betty McDermott and Alicia Jimenez.
I have benefited immensely from conversations with Abelardo Brenes, Advisor to Earth Charter International, an independent consultant; and Member of the Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group at the Secretariat of the U.N. Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, as well as from Diana Borrás from the Costa Rican Ministry of Education. This Research has been possible thanks to the environment given by the teachers at UPEACE, residents and visiting professors, especially Eliana Carvalho who was a source of motivation for all Peace Education students.
I am grateful to the teachers and head teachers who received me during their working hours, Gilda Montero, Patricia Montero, Maria Lourdes Espinoz, Marietta Barrantes, Yenory Pitar, Zaida Lobo, Eduardo Arias, Vilma Con Matarrita, Victoria Cole, Enith Monge, Rafael Otárola, Manuel Jiménes and Carlos A. Solano Núñez, I owe my gratitude to all of them. This study has been possible thanks to the support I received from all these individuals.
Marcos R. Estrada de Oliveira
San José, 08th of July 2008
Dedication
I dedicate this modest product to my supervisor Manuel Gomes who has been my mentor and friend prior my arrival at UPEACE, in Costa Rica. As well as to the Earth Charter team, all of whom played a vital role in this research, Dominic Stucker played an important role providing a vis a vis support; Betty McDermott provided me all kinds materials and support in the innumerable visit I did to the Earth Charter Centre, I took so much o her time that I am surprised she did not start hiding from me.
I also dedicate this humble piece of work to Marina Garcia, the unsung hero behind this research project, for her unfailing support in good and bad moments in the last months and also to my Peace Education brothers and sisters, in alphabetical order, Ayten Birhanie, Ben Oru Mforndip, Golda Keng, Lilian Mbone, Naita Saechao, Paul Klassen and Usman Malik, who provided that, without their moral support, this research project would have become unbearable.
Table of Content
Permission for Use of the Research Project ii
Acknowledgments iii
Dedication iv
Table of Content v
Index of Boxes and Graphics vii
Table of acronyms and Abbreviations viii
Introduction 1
I-Conceptual Framework: Concepts, Context and Indicators 3
1. Problematic of the Concepts: A Review of the Literature 5
1.1 Sustainability versus Sustainable Development 6
1.2 Effects of Development and Education 9
1.3 Education for Sustainable Development 11
2. The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014: The Current Context 14
2.1. Parallel Education Initiatives 15
2.1.1 The Earth Charter Initiative 16
2.1.2 Environment and Schools Initiative (ENSI) 18
2.1.3 The UN Literacy Decade, Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals 18
2.2 Building ESD in Latin America and the Caribbean 20
2.3 The Costa Rican National Commitment to the DESD 21
3. Education for Sustainable Development Indicators 22
3.1 Asia-Pacific Guidelines of National ESD Indicators 22
3.2 Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools 22
II. Research Design and Approach 24
4. Type of Research 24
4.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis 24
4.2 Research Ethics 25
4.3 Research Instruments: The Questionnaire: Earth Charter Questionnaire for Teachers and Questionnaires: Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools 25
4.4 Data Collection and Sampling 26
III-Key Study 27
5. Data Analysis 27
5.1 Educational Materials for a Sustainable Living 28
5.1.1 The Student Book: Learning About Sustainable Lifestyles Using the Earth Charter 28
5.1.2 The Teacher’s Book: Educating for a More Sustainable Lifestyle Using the Earth Charter 29
5.1.3 Agenda 29
5.2 Distribution of the Material and Teacher Training 29
5.3 Field Research in Costa Rica 30
5.3.1 Qualitative Analysis: The Earth Charter Questionnaire for Teachers 33
5.3.2 Quantitative Analysis: The Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools in Costa Rica 41
5.3.2.1 School 1 43
5.3.2.2 School 2 44
5.3.2.3 School 3 45
5.3.2.4 School 4 46
5.3.2.5 School 5 47
5.3.2.6 School 6 48
5.3.2.7 School 7 49
5.3.2.8 School 8 50
5.3.2.9 School 9 51
5.3.2.10 School 10b 52
5.3.2.11 Correlation 53
6. Concluding Remarks 56
7. Recommendations 58
8. Afterword 59
9. Reference 60
10. Appendixes 63
Appendix I. The Earth Charter 64
Appendix II. The Earth Charter. Questionnaire for Teachers 71
Appendix III. Questionnaire: Quality Criteria for ESD-School. 72
Appendix IV. The Student Book’s Table of Contents 81
Index of Boxes and Graphics
Box 1. The essentials of the concept of Sustainability 6
Box 2. Evolution of the Sustainability Concept 7
Box 3. Sustainable Development multiple choices 8
Box 4. Objectives for the Decade 14
Box 5. Seven interlinked Strategies Proposed for the DESD 14
Box 6. The Earth Charter Four Pillars 16
Box 7. The Interaction of Different Aspects 16
Box 8. The 16 Earth Charter’s principles 17
Box 9a. Sample of Visited School 26
Box 9b. Sample of Visited School Presented as a Number 30
Box 10. Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools per areas 42
Box 11. Quality Criteria per group: School 1 43
Graphic 1. Quality Criteria per group: School 43
Box 12. Quality Criteria per group: School 2 44
Graphic 2. Quality Criteria per group: School 2 44
Box 13 Quality Criteria per group. School 3 45
Graphic 3. Quality Criteria per group: School 3 45
Box 14. Quality Criteria per group: School 4 46
Graphic 4. Quality Criteria per group: School 4 46
Box 15. Quality Criteria per group: School 5 47
Graphic 5. Quality Criteria per group: School 5 47
Box 16. Quality Criteria per group: School 6 48
Graphic 6. Quality Criteria per group: School 6 48
Box 17. Quality Criteria per group: School 7 49
Graphic7. Quality Criteria per group: School 7 49
Box 18. Quality Criteria per group: School 8 50
Graphic 8. Quality Criteria per group: School 8 50
Box 19. Quality Criteria per Group: School 9 51
Graphic 9. Quality Criteria per Group: School 9 51
Box 20. Quality Criteria per Group: School 10b 52
Graphic 10. Quality Criteria per Group: School 10b 52
Box 21. Correlation of the Quality Criteria for ESD Schools per Area 53
Box 22. Average of the Quality Criteria data from all schools per group 54
Graphic 11. Average of the 10 Schools per Area 55
Table of acronyms and Abbreviations
DESD Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
EC Earth Charter
EFA Education for All
ENSI Environment and School Initiative
ESD Education for Sustainable Development
EU European Union
EUCS European Union Commission Secretariat
ICTs Information and communication technologies
IIS International Implementation Scheme
IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
SD Sustainable Development
SEED School Development through Environmental Education
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Science
UN United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNLD United Nations Literacy Decade)
UNWCED World Commission on Environment and Development
UPEACE United Nations mandated University for Peace
WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development
ii
Introduction
The concept of Sustainable Development (SD) is debatable and there is a need for additional investigation on how to educate for sustainable development. Thus, this research investigated the application of Education for Sustainable Development in the formal curriculum in primary public schools in Costa Rica, looking at the example of an Earth Charter Material.
This research seek to evaluate the degree of success of ESD in a sample of primary schools in Costa Rica that had been using materials produced by the Earth Charter Secretariat. This research looked at the Earth Charter material Aprendamos un Estilo de Vida sostenible con la Carta de la Tierra (Learning about sustainable lifestyles using the Earth Charter) distributed in some Costa Rican primary public schools. Along with the evaluation of the Earth Charter Material, it used the questionnaire: 52 Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools. This questionnaire is in Spanish as Appendix II. This questionnaire is based on the 52 quality criteria elaborated by Environment and School Initiative (ENSI), a decentralised network working in the field of ESD.
This research is divided in three parts, I-Conceptual Framework, II-Research Design and the II-Key Study.
First, this research looks at the concepts and precedents of the DESD. This research provides a literature review by looking at the different concepts within this topic. This research looks at the documents Building Education for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (2007) and the Costa Rican document National Commitment to the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development[1] (2007). Moreover, it looks at parallel initiatives that have been contributing to the implementation of the DESD. This research also looks at Asia-Pacific Guidelines for the Development of National ESD Indicators (2007), created by UNESCO Bangkok, and analyse the Quality criteria for ESD-Schools (2001), developed Environmental School Initiative (ENSI).
Secondly, before this research presents the key study, it presents the methods of research, quantitative and qualitative approaches; the research ethics; the research instruments, the sampling and selection of schools, the data collection process and how data was analysed in this research. as well the questionnaires regarding to the use of the Earth Charter material and the questionnaire: 52 Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools, which together allowed the collection of qualitative and quantitative data.
Thirdly, the key study presents the data collected in the sample of eleven primary schools. It looks at the example of Earth Charter educational materials; it provides information on the creation and distribution process of the material, as well on teacher training. Moreover, it analyses the use of the material and the importance and level of implementation of the ESD in selected schools, basing on the ENSI’s Quality criteria for ESD-Schools.
This research project was submitted as part of the Master programme in Peace Education done at the United Nations Affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE), in San José, Costa Rica. Although this research was carried out during the academic year 2007-2008, my academic and personal interest on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 (DESD) started prior to this academic year.
As a researcher, I have the interest to investigate how international initiatives, such as the DESD, can contribute to enhance formal education. My experience in the field of education led me to question the impact of formal education in people’s life. Moreover, preceding my Master programme in Peace Education, I obtained an undergraduate Degree on International Studies which made me more aware of how education can play a significant role in different societies. As an individual, I personally believe in education as a transformative tool that can be used to produce a positive effect in people’s life. The fact that I have received all my formal education from public education institutions, most of it in Brazil and some in the United Kingdom, made me aware of the impact public education can have on people. As a result of my personal and academic interests, I decided to investigate the topic Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) seeking to make a contribution to the improvement of education in the field of Sustainable Development.
I-Conceptual Framework: Concepts, Context and Indicators
People, since the dawn of time, have been seeking to ensure their own survival. It has been seen that changes in customary practices may be required through the time, but it is difficult to make changes in deep-rooted social structures which have been working for many generations; it could disrupt the traditional ways. Although the world population was smaller in the past, humans have not been fully aware of how to use natural resources from our planet, for the sake of all, activities which could have led them to scarcity were always avoided in different parts of the world.
Therefore, the idea of a development that is sustainable is not a new aspiration. It could be traced centuries ago in ancient civilizations, feudal organisations, indigenous groups and also in agricultural societies. However, it only acquired strength in the 20th century. In the last decades, many humans have realised that change in our time is necessary. Patterns of production and consumption need to be adjusted to the Earth’s carrying capacity.
It acquired significant force in the 70s, in particular, after the post-Second World War reconstruction period, when environmentalists warned that the environment was being severely damaged as a result of the industrialisation process. As result of this process, the world witnessed a substantial economic growth around the globe, never seen before. At the same time, scientists, social scientists, and other groups, at different levels, recognised that the human environment was at threat. Consequently, the issue was brought to the international agenda in 1972 during the United Nations (UN) Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden.
Since the concept Sustainable Development (SD) was published in the by the Brundtland Commission report Our Common Future (1987), it has become part of the international environmental rhetoric. In fact, the concept SD came into existence years earlier. The concept SD had also been used in 1980 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the World Conservation Strategy (1980). Ever since, the discussion around the definition of SD and how to measure it have been feeding debates around the globe. Although there is a common goal, to achieve a sustainable way of living, there is not a consensus about the definition of SD.